Earlier this year, Apple agreed to pay out up to $500 million to settle a class action lawsuit in the United States over its decision to throttle iPhone performance when battery health declined. Now, a new website has been set up for affected iPhone owners to be able to submit a claim for payout.
As we reported earlier this year, Apple will pay between $310 million and $510 million to settle the lawsuit. The exact amount will vary based on how many claims are submitted, but under the settlement, Apple will pay $25 to eligible iPhone owners.
Under the proposed settlement, Apple will provide a cash payment of approximately $25 per eligible device. Please note that the actual cash payment per eligible device may be greater than or less than $25, depending on the total number of approved claims and other factors. The total payments to be made by Apple under the proposed settlement are subject to a minimum and maximum as set forth above and in more detail in the Class Notice.
To be eligible to receive the payment, you must live in the United States and meet the following criteria:
- United States owner of an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and/or SE device that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later
- Or, in the case of iPhone 7 and 7 Plus devices, that ran iOS 11.2 or later before December 21, 2017.
You can apply to receive the settlement payment at this website set up by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. You’ll simply enter your iPhone serial number, but if you do not know the serial number of your device, there is a tool on the settlement website that allows you to locate it based on your Apple ID, name, and street address.
In an email sent to potential class members today, the final hearing for the class action lawsuit is set for December 4. At this point, the judge will sign off on the settlement and payments will be distributed to eligible class members. You have until October 6 to submit a claim form online or via the mail. Here is the timeline:
| October 6, 2020 | — | Requests for Exclusion From the Settlement Must Be Received By This Date |
| October 6, 2020 | — | Objections to the Settlement Must Be Delivered/Received By This Date |
| October 6, 2020 | — | Objections to Class Counsel’s Request for Attorneys’ Fees and Expenses Must Be Delivered/Received By This Date |
| October 6, 2020 | — | Claim Forms Must Be Submitted Online By This Date or Received By This Date if Submitted By Mail |
| December 4, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. PST |
— | Fairness Hearing |
For those unfamiliar, the basis of the lawsuit is that the policy changes introduced iOS 10.2.1 led customers to believe that their phones were at the end of their life, requiring purchases of new batteries or new phones altogether. Apple has denied wrongdoing and said that it only agreed to this settlement to avoid costly litigation going forward.
You can sign up for the class action settlement and learn more here.
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